Released April 21, 2005

Hattiesburg- Mississippi has many hardworking people living paycheck to paycheck, who worry about medical costs, insurance, and how to pay their rent. While these are found in every ethnic group, African-Americans and Latinos are still prominent among the working poor.

In Hattiesburg, student and community activists are hoping to spread some light on the issues facing this community, especially by focusing on some of the most hardworking and underappreciated within our society, Latina women.

To address some of these issues, April 21 - 28 has been set aside as "Hispanic and Labor Awareness Week" at The University of Southern Mississippi. The events are free to the public.

Thursday, April 21, there will be a showing of At the River I Stand at 7 p.m. in the new International Building, Room 101. The film details the coinciding struggles of the labor and Civil Rights movements, including the death of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis.

Monday, April 25 at 6:30 p.m. the history film series is showing Maria Full of Grace, the story of a young female Columbian drug smuggler, in Liberal Arts Building, Room 108.

Tuesday, from 12-1 there will be a brown-bag discussion of Latina issues in the Student Union at 7 p.m. in Stout Hall A, there will be a presentation titled "Student Power with Workers: Taco Bell Boycott Victory," which will analyze student participation within the labor movement in the backdrop of this historic victory.

Wednesday, the film In the Time of the Butterflies will be shown at 7 p.m., followed by a panel discussion on human rights issues facing Latina women both in Latin America and the United States.

Thursday, university professors, Latino immigrants and labor experts will discuss various aspects of human migration into the United States in a presentation titled "The Human Face of Human Migration."

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